OKUTEPA DISOWNS QUIT NOTICE, INVITES POLICE

A prominent Bar Leader, Mr. Jibrin Okutepa SAN has disowned a “Quit Notice” allegedly written by his former employee and bearing his office address.

Noting that “the said quit notice did not emanate from my office and could not have emanated from my office,” Okutepa added that “I am surprised to see this carrying my office name of J. S. Okutepa SAN and Co. While it is true that Mr S T Akohol was in the employment of my law firm, he left my office in 2018 to set up his law firm.”

The senior lawyer confirmed the incident to CITY LAWYER, adding that he has instructed his Head of Chambers to petition the Nigeria Police over the matter.

Below is the full text of the disclaimer.

NOTICE OF DISCLAIMER
My attention has been drawn to a purported Quit Notice being circulated on social media said to have been issued and signed by S. T. Akohol Esq.

I wish to state categorically that the said quit notice did not emanate from my office and could not have emanated from my office. I am surprised to see this carrying my office name of J. S. Okutepa SAN and Co. While it is true that Mr S T Akohol was in the employment of my law firm, he left my office in 2018 to set up his law firm.

The address on the letter is not my office address. My office address in Makurdi is House 3BR/3B, No 11 Hudco Quarters High Level Makurdi Benue State.

My office was relocated to the address above on 25th January 2018 after the law firm built its office. I and my office have no ideas of the author of this badly written Quit Notice. It is an impersonation of the highest order. I am far away in Miami Florida now for IBA conference and many have drawn my attention to this letter which was not badly written but had demeaned my person and office. All letters and notices from my law firm are usually done on my office letter headed papers with the office logo.

I have accordingly instructed my colleague and Head of Chambers in Makurdi to report this to the police with a view to knowing who authored this Quit Notice.
J. S. Okutepa SAN

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OLANIPEKUN: OKUTEPA CRIES OUT OVER CRITICISM BY SENIOR LAWYERS

Fiery senior lawyer and former Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) prosecutor, Mr. Jibrin Okutepa SAN has distanced himself from a statement by the Justice Reform Project (JRP) asking Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN to quit his office as Chairman of the Body of Benchers (BoB).

In a statement made available to CITY LAWYER, the outspoken Bar Leader said he “left JRP long ago when I perceived the way things were being done without consultations.”

Leading senior lawyer and Chairman of JRP Governing Board, Mrs. Funke Adekoya SAN had told CITY LAWYER yesterday that both Okutepa and former Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Olasupo Shasore left the group “on issues of personal principle.”

He also berated “eminent members of the Bar” for chastising him over the recusal saga, adding that he never called Olanipekun a “superior member of the Bar.”

CITY LAWYER had in an exclusive report cited a complaint by an apparently embittered senior lawyer and former Minister of Energy and Petroleum ministries, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia SAN where he referenced an email to the SAIPEM from Ms. Adekunbi Ogunde, a Partner in Wole Olanipekun & Co, and demanded an apology from the law firm. The firm apologized for the debacle and disowned the Partner.

The NBA has filed a petition at the LPDC where it not only demanded sanctions against Ms. Ogunde, a Partner in Wole Olanipekun & Co, for alleged solicitation of briefs from Saipem SPA, but invited the Committee to “consider whether the Partners of the Firm of Wole Olanipekun & Co. are not liable to be disciplined by this august body seeing that the Respondent has the ostensible authority to act as a Partner and indeed acted for and on behalf of the said Firm.” Olanipekun is the Founding Partner of the law firm. The LPDC is a committee of the Body of Benchers.

Below is a full text of the statement.

My attention has been drawn to an unsigned statement said to have been issued by Justice Reform Projects, JRP in which my name was mentioned.

While I have no quarrel with whatever informed the reasons for the statement, I want to say categorically that I am no more a member of JRP. I left JRP long ago when I perceived the way things were being done without consultations. Prof Ojukwu SAN and many members of JRP can testify to this. Those who issued the statement should have been kind enough to have indicated that I have long withdrawn my membership of JRP.

My name is being used by different persons for different reasons on this alleged issue of professional misconduct. Many have attributed to me on social media what I did not say. For instance I did not describe Chief Olanipekun SAN as Suprior member of the Bar and couldn’t have said so yet eminent members of the Bar have gone to the media to pour venoms on me for what I did not say.

I will not support or shield any member of the legal profession who breaches or who is alleged to have breached our rules of professional Conduct in the legal profession, no matter his or her status in the legal profession, but nobody should use my name in any statement I did not authorize or attributes to me what I did not say, no matter how noble the intention may be.

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AJUMOGOBIA ACCUSES OLANIPEKUN’S LAW FIRM OF MISCONDUCT; FIRM APOLOGIZES, DISOWNS PARTNER

Former Minister for Energy and Petroleum ministries, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia has accused the law firm of Wole Olanipekun & Co of professional misconduct in the $130 Million Rivers State Government vs Saipem SPA, Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited and Ors case.

In an email dated June 23, 2022 and obtained by CITY LAWYER, the senior lawyer stated that he was “shocked and appalled” at the contents of a letter written by one Adekumbi Ogunde, a Partner in the law firm of Wole Olanipekun & Co to his firm’s clients, Saipem SA and Saipem Nigeria Limited.

In the email addressed to the Body of Benchers Chairman, Ajumogobia wrote: “I must also express my extreme disappointment and utter disillusionment, that a letter of this nature should emanate from your chambers, given your stature at the bar generally and as the current Chairman of the body of benchers, in particular.

“My sentiments about the unfortunate but unmistakable allusion to ‘influence’ with “Justices of the Supreme Court, Presiding Justices of the Court of Appeal and Chief Judges” with whom you happen to serve on certain bodies in the legal profession, with regard to a matter before a Court, is better left unsaid.

“Suffice it to say that the attached letter is in my opinion tantamount to gross misconduct of the worst kind.

“For the record, our mandatory Rules of Professional Conduct expressly prohibit self-advertising and solicitation by Nigerian legal practitioners!

“Rule 39 expressly provides that “A lawyer shall not engage or be involved in any advertising or promotion of his practice of the law which …..makes comparison with or criticizes other lawyers …..or includes any statement about the quality of the lawyer’s work, the size or success of his practice or his success rate.

“The email from your firm could not be more egregious in its breach of this essential mandatory rule, especially in its acknowledgment that the defendant companies had already retained counsel. That I and my firm of Ajumogobia & Okeke were retained in the matter, was a matter of public record and was personally known to you and your firm, since you had asked me about the matter during our Unilag Law Faculty Alumni dinner at Harbour point in February.

“The attached email from your firm also contains false and misleading statements with several defamatory imputations of and concerning myself and my firm.

“In the circumstances we demand within 7 days of the date of this letter, a written apology to the firm of Ajumogobia & Okeke from Wole Olanipekun & Co, for this most deplorable conduct of Adekumbi Ogunde and your firm.

“In addition we demand that Wole Olanipekun & Co sends a letter to Saipem the top management to retract your said letter….”

He warned that the retraction and a copy of the apology to his firm “must be copied to the top management of Saipem SA and the same recipients as the original email,” adding that “I trust that your firm will comply with our demand forthwith.”

However, Olanipekun’s law firm has washed its hands off the controversial letter, vowing that it was written without its consent and authority.

In a prompt reply dated June 24, 2022 and titled “DISCLAIMER,” the leading law firm stated that “the writer of the letter under reference was on her own, and we do wholly dissociate ourselves from the letter and its contents.”

The law firm vowed that “internal measures would immediately be taken to address and redress this very unfortunate situation,” adding that “Our Principal, without being immodest, has never been known to indulge himself in the type of practice portrayed in the letter under reference. He is a very sober and humble person, and we believe learned Silk, H. Odein Ajumogobia, SAN, OFR can attest to this. He stands for the best in the profession, in terms of ethics, honour, integrity, discipline, character and carriage.”

The disclaimer was signed by Messrs James Adesulu and Quam Owolabi Bisiriyu, both Associate Counsel at Wole Olanipekun & Co and copied to Ajumogobia.

In the additional note to the former Petroleum Minister, the law firm said that “we apologize for this very unfortunate incident , which was unauthorized,” adding that the letter was “neither initiated, prompted, encouraged nor approved by our chambers.”

The disclaimer noted that Olanipekun “values and covets the very cordial professional and friendly relationship between both of you, a relationship that has stood the test of time for over three decades, where both of you have mutually and reciprocally shared and exchanged thoughts on some highly confidential issues and subjects.”

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CONTROVERSY TRAILS PETITION AGAINST NBA PUB-SEC ASPIRANT, OGAGA

An Owerri based lawyer has urged the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) to bar NBA Publicity Secretary aspirant and current Secretary of NBA Welfare Committee, Mr. Ogaga Emoghawanre from further participation in the forthcoming National Officers Elections.

In the petition obtained by CITY LAWYER, the petitioner, Mr. Francis Ugwumsinachi alleged that Emoghawanre, a leading aspirant for the prominent post, is “not qualified to contest for the office of the Publicity Secretary of NBA in the forthcoming election.”

However, NBA Owerri Branch leadership has written a disclaimer to the ECNBA disowning the petitioner, saying he is not a member of the branch.

Ugwumsinachi had in the petition dated May 4, 2022 vowed that he is “a bonafide member of Owerri Branch and by virtue of same, I will be affected by the outcome of the conduct of 2022 NBA National Elections.”

Continuing, the young lawyer wrote: “Sir, Ogaga Emoghawanre Esq. by our understanding of the provisions of the NBA Constitution is not qualified to contest for the office of the Publicity Secretary of NBA in the forthcoming election.”

According to the petitioner, “His tenure as the Publicity Secretary of NBA will expire in June 2022. As at the time of collecting and submitting of his nomination form (21 March- 15th April 2022), he had not been in office for 2 years as prescribed by the constitution of our great NBA.”

He asserted that “It will be a miscarriage of justice if Ogaga Emoghawanre esq (sic) is qualified to contest in the face of manifest precedent,” arguing that former NBA Assisatnt Publicity Secretary Habeeb Akorede Lawal suffered the same fate in 2020 when he was disqualified by the ECNBA allegedly on the same grounds.

But in a letter dated May 9, 2022 and addressed to the ECNBA Secretary, the NBA Owerri Branch leadership described Ugwumsinachi’s claim of being a bonafide member of the branch as “spurious.”

Signed by Messrs Jude Ogamba and Chinedu Agu, the branch chairman and secretary respectively, the branch leadership said: “We have gone through our records to discover, much to our consternation, that the said Ugwumsinachi Francis Ajuruchi has never been and is currently not a registered member of our Branch, and therefore is not a person known to our Branch as such.”

This has however set off a controversy in the branch, with the petitoner threatening to head to court to clear his name. He told CITY LAWYER that the Branch Secretary has urged him to “calm down” as the matter would be amicably resolved soon.

“He sent an inbox message to me assuring me that he would issue an apology letter and a withrawal letter to ECNBA,” he said. “If that is not done, I will go to court to clear my name.”

Validating the petitioner’s membership of the branch, the Branch Young Lawyers Forum (YLF) Chairman, Mr. Kelechi Ogugbuaja told CITY LAWYER that “Ugwumsinachi is a member of the branch. He has a branch ID Card issued by the Secretary and signed by the Branch Chairman. He also furnished us with his branch dues from 2019 till date issued and signed by the Financial Secretary.”

Continuing, the Branch YLF Chairman said: “I do not know how they investigated to say that the young lawyer is not a member of the branch. I don’t believe that we should engage in politics as to deny our own member. Meanwhile, he did not write on behalf of the branch. He is a bonafide member of the branch. We are patiently waiting for the branch leadership to issue him an apology letter and withdraw the purported disclaimer.”

When CITY LAWYER contacted the Branch Chairman, he said: “We have written to the ECNBA. If there is an error, it will be remedied.”

When CITY LAWYER pointed out the petitioner’s claim that the Branch Secretary promised to withdraw the disclaimer, Agu said: “If that is the position of the secretary, he should know. I saw a picture he (petitioner) took with the Branch Secretary. We will not want to injure anyone. Recall that we are transiting from analogue to digital records. We would look at every record. In our branch, we have a procedure for obtaining membership. I have asked the appropriate officers to look at our records again.”

On his part, the Branch Secretary told CITY LAWYER that the disclaimer stands until the branch concludes its enquiry into the petitioner’s membership status. His words: “No such (withdrawal) letter will be issued without a further deep-pocketed inquest into the validity or otherwise of his membership. This inquest is underway.” Reminded that he had assured the petitioner of such a letter and an apology in a message sighted by CITY LAWYER, he said: “Letter of Disclaimer was an official Letter.”

It was unclear at press time if the electoral committee had taken a decision on the petition.

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NBA LAGOS WRITES CJ, DEBUNKS FROSTY RELATIONS

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos Branch has debunked claims that it has a frosty relationship with the Lagos State Judiciary.

Reacting to a CITY LAWYER report on the matter, the Branch described the report as “false and misleading,” saying it “does not represent a true record of the deliberations at our last meeting, as falsely reported.”

In an online post to branch members titled “POINT OF INFORMATION!!!” and signed by the Branch Chairman, Mr. Yemi Akangbe, he stated that the branch has written to the Chief Judge, Justice Kazeem Alogba “in reaction to the said publication.”

Former Financial Secretary and Treasurer Emeritus of the branch, Mr. Phillip Njeteneh had while reacting to the CITY LAWYER report, said: “At the last Branch meeting the Exco, learned seniors & members generally expressed their frustration at the cold shoulders given the Branch by the Lagos CJ over the offer to help and overtures of the Premier Branch over the recent destruction of courts & court facilities.”

It is recalled that the Chief Judge had also debunked any frosty relations between the judiciary and the branch, saying that he has been unable to receive the branch leadership due to overarching schedules.

Below is the full text of the chairman’s statement:

POINT OF INFORMATION!!!
Dear Seniors/ Respected Members,

I hope this note finds you well.

You must have read with concern, a recent publication of an alleged “FROSTY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OUR BRANCH AND THE LAGOS STATE JUDICIARY” authored by City Lawyer, a blog said to be published by Mr. Emeka Nwadioke who happens to be a member of our Branch. I believe everyone present at the last Meeting of the Branch will attest to the fact that the report was inaccurate and misleading.

It is important to mention that whilst non members are permitted by us, if considered appropriate, upon request, to attend our meetings, our Branch meetings are exclusive to our members and deliberations at our meetings are privileged. A measure of confidentiality should therefore be associated with the meetings. Further the duly adopted minutes of our meetings are the only recognized record of deliberations at our meetings. Press coverage of our meetings should only be at our instance and not otherwise. We ask that City Lawyer and all other bloggers should respect the privacy associated with our meetings.

For your information, please see below, a letter to the C.J, in reaction to the said publication.

January 20, 2021

The Hon. Justice K. O. Alogba
The Chief Judge of Lagos State,
Chief Jusge’s (sic) Chambers,
High Court Complex, Ikeja,
Lagos State.

My Lord,

RE:ALLEGED FROSTY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NBA, LAGOS BRANCH AND THE LAGOS STATE JUDICIARY.
We have read, with astonishment and amazement, the report of the allegedly ‘frosty relationship’ between the NBA Lagos Branch and the Bench in Lagos State, especially your good self.

We write to inform you that the report by “City Lawyer blog” is false and misleading and does not represent a true record of the deliberations at our last meeting, as falsely reported.

In reporting to the Branch on the progress of collaboration between the Branch and the Bench regarding the unfortunate incidents that occurred at the High Court complex in Igbosere, we made the point that we had made proposals to your office offering assistance and had requested a meeting, but had so far been unable to secure an appointment.

Further to the above, we find the report of the existence of a ‘frosty relationship’ between the NBA Lagos Branch and the Bench to be driven by a desire for sensationalism on the part of the authors.

We anticipate that the report may have caused unnecessary embarrassment and we consider this unfortunate and regrettable.

Do please accept the assurance of our highest regards and respect, as we continue to await an opportunity to meet with you.

Yours faithfully,
Yemi Akangbe
NBA, Lagos Chairman.

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